Two days in Arendelle came and went and Alder spent his time learning some basic ice harvesting techniques from Kristoff and getting to know Anna and Elsa. Whilst he felt it odd at first that the royalty of Arendelle seemed genuinely interested in his company, he warmed to it. Kristoff was genuinely impressed with how quickly he seemed to pick up the finer points of ice harvesting. As such on the third day, he suggested that they head up into the mountains for a harvest. It was mid morning by the time they were ready to leave. Anna and Elsa had ducked away from their duties to see them off and they said their goodbyes. The trip up into the mountains did not take long but it was starting to get dark by the time they arrived. They made camp in a cave near the harvest ground, Alder taking the time to throughly check for any wildlife, much to Kristoff's amusement.
The next day they got to work and Kristoff was amazed when they had managed to fill half the sled with ice. Noticing a change in the weather, signified by the darkening of great clouds above them, Kristoff suggested they head inside until it passed. Alder slumped down, leaning against a rock and rubbed his arms. He hadn't worked this hard in a very long time and his muscles were kind enough to tell him of the fact. Kristoff let out a small chuckle.
"It's hard work isn't it?" he asked.
Alder shook his head, smiling.
"I can't remember the last time my muscles hurt like this. Most of the little jobs I do pick up involve some form of manual labour but this... this is completely different."
"You get used to it. Years and years of it you just learn to ignore the screaming in your arms. Does help in colder months too as the cold numbs you to it a little."
"I guess that makes sense," Alder replied. "So are we just going to wait this out?"
Almost simultaneously, the heavens opened and a mixture of heavy rain and snow, fell to the ground. As if in answer to his question, there was a flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder.
"I think I just got my answer," he said smiling.
Kristoff laughed.
"That's the thing about these mountains. One minute it can be fine and sunny and you turn away and look back and you are in the middle of a blizzard."
"Sounds dangerous, I mean the unpredictablity of the weather. Does it make it hard to harvest the ice?" Alder asked.
"Not really. We usually just wait the storms out like this and get back to cutting in the morning," Kristoff said.
Alder sat there nodding.
"It's a pretty dangerous job. I mean I'm surprised Anna is so calm about it," Alder chuckled.
"I think that she knows that I will always do everything in my power to get back to her. She understands that ice harvesting is as big a part of me as she is. Ice is my life, but now so is she and she respects that. To be honest I'm sometimes surprised at how relaxed she is about the whole thing. But I guess it's just one of the things I love about her," he said, a loving smile appearing on his face.
Alder smiled. Seeing the way Kristoff seemingly changed between rugged mountain man and a gentle, caring lover to Anna, made Alder almost wish he had someone he could be with like that. His mind almost instinctively led him back to thoughts of Elsa. He hadn't known the Queen for very long but he knew that he had an almost undeniable attraction to her. Whether it was for the fact that she had powers like him or for the fact that they seemed to share a lot in terms of their experiences of loss, he was somehow drawn to her.
Fire and Ice, he thought. Two polar opposites. How cliche.
A small smile appeared on his face and Kristoff seemed to notice him laughing at his own joke.
"What's so funny?" he asked, wondering if Alder had somehow found his mushy talk amusing.
"It's nothing... Nothing to do with you anyway. Just thinking how lucky you are to have someone like that to share your life with," he replied.
Glad that Alder wasn't making fun of him Kristoff let out a sigh of relief.
"That may not be as distant a wish as you may think," he said. Suddenly realising what he had just said, a look of horror swept across his face and he looked away.
"Wait... What do you mean by that," Alder enquired, confusion filling his voice. "Is there something you want to tell me Kristoff?"
"No," Kristoff replied hurriedly, "I can't tell you. I-I mean I can't tell you because there is nothing to tell. So no... There's nothing I want to tell you."
Alder looked at him suspiciously.
"You are a bad liar. Has anyone ever told you that?"
Kristoff began to nervously fiddle with his hat.
"I-I'm not lying," he responded, voice half filled with nervousness and half filled with an attempt at sounding stern.
Alder just stared at him with a look of scepticism.
"Fine. But if this is something that ends up biting me on the butt, know that I'm very good with a sword. And with a bow too."
Kristoff laughed nervously.
"I swear it's nothing," he replied.
Alder wasn't too sure what Kristoff was planning but it wasn't a huge leap to guess that Anna was involved somehow.
This isn't good, he thought.
His train of thought was interrupted by another deafening clap of thunder. The rumbling seemed to continue for a lot longer than the other instances of thunder they had experienced thus far, causing Kristoff to get up and walk to the cave entrance to investigate.
Suddenly a large boulder crashed down in front of him, sending him stumbling backwards. Soon it appeared it was now raining rocks and snow as the entire cave shook from the crashing debris. Parts of the roof broke off and one falling piece narrowly missed Alder's head and Sven jumped up scared out of his slumber and began to retreat to the very back of the cave.
The rumbling died down and Alder was drawn to a cry from Kristoff. Rushing to his side he noticed that his leg was wedged between two rocks and he was bleeding badly from a wound on his leg. Prying his leg from the rocks and with Kristoff shouting in agony, he slowly moved him to the back of the cave, resting him against a rock.
"You are going to be ok Kristoff, hang in there," he said rushing over to the sled. To his surprise the sled had survived mostly intact, a fact that he was pleased about as he doubted Kristoff would be walking back to Arendelle. Alder rummaged around in the back of the sled, desperately looking for something to bandage Kristoff's badly injured leg. Finding some fabric that had been used to hold supplies, he returned to Kristoff.
"Now this is going to hurt... A lot... But keep in mind that if you bleed out on me, I have to explain to Anna how you died. Please don't wish that on me," he said trying to keep the mood light.
Kristoff let out a laboured laugh.
"Just get it over with... I'll be fine."
Alder lifted Kristoff's leg and was met with a loud groan of pain from the mountain man. Quickly wrapping the makeshift bandage around his leg he pulled it tight, constricting the blood loss. Kristoff look pale and he began to shiver. Alder quickly tried to gather some firewood, snapping some of the timber off the sled. Had Alder been looking he would have seen Kristoff wince as he ripped another piece of timber off his sled.
Oh Anna's going to kill me, Kristoff thought. If I don't bleed to death, or die from cold first.
Try as he might, Alder couldn't get the fire started. He tried everything and yet he couldn't ease his companions discomfort. Sven now huddled close to Kristoff, but it didn't seem to be doing much. Alder's mind was racing. If he didn't do something, Kristoff would die. There was only one thing he could do. Resolving himself he snapped his fingers and a small flame appeared in both his palm. Placing them next to the fire wood, the sparks instantly caught and soon a large, warm fire filled the centre of the cave. Dreading to look Kristoff in the eye, Alder moved to the front of the cave and began to try and remove some of the rubble.
Kristoff sat wide eyed. It couldn't be. He has powers too, he thought.
"M-mind e-explaining t-t-that?" he asked, shivering slightly.
Alder continued to pull rocks away from the pile.
"It's nothing don't worry about it," he replied, focusing on his task.
"If that's your definition of nothing, I'd hate to see what your definition of something is," he said, this time managing to not stutter. The fire seemed to be doing the trick.
"It's nothing, please just save your strength," Alder said sparing Kristoff a worried glance.
"No Alder. Tell me what the hell is going on right now. I will get up and make a fuss if I have to, so if you want me to save my strength, you come over here now and explain to me what THAT was."
He had meant it as an idle threat, but the pain had made him a little less inclined to be tactful. Alder stopped pulling away rocks and walked over to the fire.
"You are a stubborn fool Kristoff. You would kill yourself just to know about my powers?" Alder asked accusingly.
"I think I have a right to know, considering how I would have frozen to death if you didn't have them. You can at least tell me how you saved my life."
Alder sighed. This was exactly the thing he wanted to avoid. Being the centre of attention, people questioning him about who he was. There was no getting out of this. Kristoff was the kind of person that would wander around asking him questions, while his leg bled out all over the ground. Shaking his head he looked back up at Kristoff. He seemed to be waiting, fully expecting him to tell him the secret that he had guarded closely for nearly the entirety of his life.
"Well the only way you will be able to understand is if I tell you everything. I'll tell you when we get back to Arendelle. We need to get you out of here," Alder said.
"No. The storm is still raging out there, so even if we could get out, we won't be moving very far. We wait it out... And you tell me how the hell you did that," Kristoff said, wincing as another ripple of pain coursed through his body.
"Fine. Fine. Just stop moving and conserve your strength," Alder ordered.
Preparing himself for the story he was about to tell, his mind racing over his memories, knowing that when this was over, there was no way he could stay in Arendelle.
A/N: Well that's all for Chapter 3 folks... I will get to writing Chapter 4 straight away so I won't leave you guys hanging for too long. In the meantime, feel free to leave a review... I really do like to get some feedback and it kind of motivates me to write more. Thank you all again for your favourites and follows and I'll update again shortly.